Queen of Blades
by Queen of Blades
Summary: This is the story I've been working on. No, it's not a Jim/Sarah after Brood war deal.
1. Introduction

DISCLAMER: I don't own Starcraft or any characters.

Queen of Blades

INTRODUCTION

      This story never happened. Let me re-phrase that. This is the story that might have happened, except that it didn't. It could have, but things just didn't turn out that way. It almost happened but for a few things wrong with it.

      If you want the Truth, ask Mike Liberty. He wrote the Truth, capital T, black and white, what really happened. A bit skewed, 'cause it's his perception, but Truth, all the same.

      My story is a bit blurred around the edges. It freely combines fact and fiction. It may have happened in an alternate reality. I'm not promising anything. I've never been to an alternate reality where this story took place. 

      So why write it down? Because it fills in the gaps. Because it makes sense. And because it rings true, deep in your heart.

      So as I said, If you're the kind of person who likes the Truth, read another book. If you don't mind a bit of unreality, read this book. 

      It is only a book, after all.


	2. Chapter 1: The Acadamy

CHAPTER 1: THE ACADAMY

      Sarah Kerrigan was born to a family of soldiers. She had uncles and aunts that were ghosts. Her parents were part of a volunteer militia. They lived in a house in Chau Sara.

      She was 3 when she was taken. They told her her parents didn't want her anymore. She believed them. She wasn't unhappy. She had friends and toys. She liked it there.

      At playtime, they were not given blocks, they were given spheres with mist inside. All of the children could make patterns appear. Kerrigan could make pictures. She wasn't special, though. At least a hundred others could.

      After 2 months, the ones who couldn't make designs were taken away. They returned a week later, sad, bitter, but able to make pictures.

      At 4, they were told to line up and were handed metal headbands with spider-leg type things on top. Sarah's friend Anna was told at gunpoint to put it on. She obeyed. The sharp, pointy legs lowered and bit into her flesh. She screamed and cried. The officers moved on.       The next child in line was a boy named Tommy. He had never seen a gun before, because he was from a civilian family. They ordered him to put it on. HE refused. They shot him.

      Turns out the gun did not shoot bullets. Electricity pulsed around Tommy as he screamed and fell twitching to the floor. They moved on to Sarah. She put hers on.

      It was pain like she'd never felt before. Her brain felt on fire. The chemicals the spider legs delivered coursed through her brain. With the headband on the constant background of thought vanished. When the pain subsided, she tried to reach and read Anna's thoughts. Nothing. She tried to read the military officer with the gin's thoughts. he was hungry. He wanted pie.

      After all the children had their headbands on, they dragged away Tommy's now still body. Kerrigan never saw him again.

      At 5, they were given helmets to put on after they shaved their heads. They were instructed never to take them off.

      At 7, the shooting began. They were instructed to hit a target. At the end of one session, whoever couldn't hit it were whipped within an inch of their lives and given no rations for the day. By the end of the week many had starved to death. Kerrigan began to harden against death, to feel less each time someone starved.

      By 12 each of the children felt a murderous rage inside them. The chemical supplements in their rations made them long to kill everyone, made them feel delight, even glee when someone died. About that time they began to shoot at live targets. Often they were human targets, captured Sons of Korhal or criminals given the death sentence, 

      At 15 the wars started. They were placed on teams of 3 and told to go at it. They were allowed to ally with other teams. None did. The teams were switched every day. The Ghostlings shot to kill.

      By 17 there were no teams. They had learned cloaking a long time ago. Now they had learned to shoot a shimmer. It didn't matter, dead soldiers decloaked. One of Kerrigan's kills was Anna. She felt nothing but the rush and joy of killing someone.

      All Military training academies had rats after their rations. Most employed the use of rat traps. Almost all kept cats. Here, a cat would be treated the same as a rat: shot immediately. There was no need for traps.

      Visitors were mostly turned away at the gates. Even so, the ghost-lings were not allowed out front. They would shoot even civilians.

      Young boys sometimes dared each other to sneak in. Most often, all involved were shot.

      At 20 they were allowed to watch the final test. This involved someone holding a gun to your head and preparing to fire. The trainees unable to stop him from firing flunked, and died.

      Sometimes the gun was placed against the head of a parent or sibling. Then the ghost trainee scowled as they saved them. If it weren't their final test, they'd shoot them themselves, just for the thrill of it. They didn't know the meaning of love.

      One afternoon Kerrigan's class was out shooting some kids. It had been Kerrigan's turn to shoot at the Son of Korhal, so she had been the last out. She heard thoughts further down the fence and went to investigate, finger on her trigger. A man was there, by the fence, on the other side, watching her. She raised her gun to shoot him, and would have fired, but for his next thought: _she's so beautiful!_

      Kerrigan lowered her gun a fraction of an inch and relaxed half a millimeter. The one thing her shrunken, twisted, neglected heart craved more than killing, more than mind-reading, was praise, and honest appreciation. That was one of the things keeping her interested in her schoolwork. And now here was a man who gave her the most truthful type of praise. He was a normal, he could not control his thoughts.

      Her ghost training took hold, and she sneered, "Who are you?". "I am Arcturus Mensk. I come to give you your freedom."


	3. Chapter 2: Arcturus Mensk

CHAPTER 2: ARCTURUS MENSK

      "I am free. I need not your services," sneered Kerrigan. 

      "Yes, but do you want them?"

      "Do you think me afraid to shoot? Be warned, I would take great pleasure from your death."

      "That's because they pump you so full of chemicals you'd kill your own grandmother and like it. I'm offering you yourself back. Your sanity. Your soul."

      _Since when do I care about my soul? _She asked herself. _Since now._

      "Do you really think like is like this? You think all across the galaxy people live to kill each other? There's beauty out there. Do you want to see it?"

      Kerrigan made up her mind. She cloaked and hopped over the fence. Seeing the confused look on Arcturus's face, she leaned down to his ear and whispered "yes."

      Arcturus's ship was huge and filled with Sons of Korhal. He made her give him the gun to be sure she wouldn't shoot. He led her to a small room with only a sort of raised cushion in it. He sat on it and patted next to him. She stood.

      "Now tell me, what is your name"

      "Sarah Kerrigan"

      "Sarah. Take off your helmet and stay a while."

      "Are you trying to trick me! I'll die if I take it off!!"

      "Nonsense, Sarah. If it makes you feel any better, I'll take you down to sick bay and hook you up to life-support."

      "No, I'll do it." She wasn't afraid of death. She really wasn't. She removed her helmet. She frowned.

      "I don't feel any different. Are you sire the chemicals are pumped in through the helmet?"

      "Positive. Well, I'll have dinner sent up in an hour. Goodnight, Sarah."

      With that he was gone. Too late Kerrigan realized he had positioned himself so he could slip out and lock her in. She scowled and felt herself succumb to the raging storm inside her.

      Dinner arrived through a subwarp field in a cavity in the wall she tried to escape and found it worked only in one direction. She was so frustrated she tried to rip her makeshift bed on the cushion from the floor. It was bolted down.

      The technicians monitoring the hidden security camera in her room noticed she grew more violent with every escape attempt. They worried about possible suicide.

      After 2 weeks she became sullen, defeated. She began acting like a hopeless prisoner. Once, they heard a strange sound coming from her room. It took them a full 2 minutes to realize she was crying. It took them 20 minutes to believe it. But she was. Sobbing, uncontrollably, thinking herself alone.

      Arcturus came to dinner with her that night. He had a special dinner prepared on a catering tray. He knocked before entering. He asked her to join him. He treated her like a woman, not an animal. And so she trusted him. She opened up to him. She bared her newly-discovered soul to him.

      After dinner e left to deposit the cart in the galley. He returned to find her lost in thought, crying silently, her back to him. A bit awkwardly, he placed his hand on her shoulder. She whipped around, flashing a knife, and before he knew it she had her knife against his throat. When she realized it was him she turned away, ashamed. She tried to stutter out an explanation. "Don't. Please. Never… just… I… Reflexes… training… It's just that… "

      "Hush. It's alright now. I'm not hurt. It's gonna be ok. That's all behind you now. You're gonna be alright."

      She hoped to god he was right.


	4. Chapter 3: A New Beginning

CHAPTER 3: A NEW BEGINNING

      The next morning he began running some tests. He wanted to know how much the chemicals had weakened her body and how much they had strengthened her powers. He assured her that she could stop them at any time. He found she could still cloak, read minds, read minds, shoot a gun, and everything else required to be a ghost. But during the week she developed an attitude, a sort of defensive shell against probing curiosities. No properly trained ghost would respond to "Lieutenant?" with "What is it now?!"

      The tests showed bodily functions as normal. However, the last test in the sick bay was a neural scan. While she hadn't been brain-panned or anything, there WERE some odd things going on inside her head. Mensk just chalked it up to being psychic. 

      What worried Kerrigan the most was that every so often Mensk would disappear, become unavailable when she wanted to talk, and so forth. Snooping led her to be locked in her room. Soon she was regularly locked in her room whenever they approached a planet.

      One night, she confronted Arcturus about this. He sighed and sat on her bed. Then, he began to tell her his story. 

      "I was not always the man you see before you. Once I was a small boy who loved his father. I did not always live among the stars. Once I had a planet.

      "Did you ever wonder why we are called the Sons of Korhal? Well, Korhal was once a prosperous planet. But my father ran into some trouble with the Confederates, and they began to despise him.

      "Me and everyone else on this ship were offworld when the Confeds blew up Korhal. My father was not.

      "We are all that's left of our planet. We travel around setting things right."

      "You seek vengeance."

      "No, my dear, we seek justice. The Confederacy seek to do others the harm they did us. We resist. Therefore, they seek to kill us."

      Kerrigan stiffened, realizing, remembering that so many of the live targets at school were "Sons of Korhal, some of the most hated criminals in the whole confederacy." She gasped, realizing she personally had stood in the way of this great man's cause.

      " I know. Horrible, isn't it?"

      So he didn't know what happened to the ones the Confederates caught. She didn't bother to correct him. Why would he, or anyone, like her, trust her, love her, if they knew she had killed so many of their friends? She resolved to dedicate herself to repaying this man, not just for the loss of valuable friends and soldiers, but for returning to her her soul. 

      "I want to help"

      Arcturus just smiled. He had known this day would come.

                              -------

      Over the planet Chau Sara he briefed her: The Confederacy had been doing evil experiments in their labs. Sarah assumed on people. He assigned her to watch from a science vessel.

      Overt the next few weeks, they had a bunch of skirmishes. Kerrigan was getting fed up of watching. She didn't realize all her pilots were incompetent and slow-minded. Arcturus had hand-picked them.

      She barely recognized the world of her birth and imprisonment. She had spent most of her time in the academy, but even so, they were on the other side of the planet. There were strange animals here that attacked them. It added a complication to battle strategies.

      She was learning a lot about strategy, but she yearned to fight. She confronted Mensk: "When are you going to let me fight?!?!?!?!" "When you're ready." Came the reply.

      _But I AM ready!! _She thought to herself. _I don't care WHAT he thinks!!!_

      The next battle she simple cloaked and hopped to the ground upon liftoff. _Easy as pie._ Then, she began her work.

      She soon lost herself in killing. It felt like a ballet. Sneak up, appear slit throat, vanish, like a moth going from lamp to night to lamp, slitting each throat with care, single-mindedly, yet in another part of her, painfully aware of each man's last thoughts: _I hate war, There's one, another one bites the dust, I'm Hit!!!, I'm never doing this again, One less rebel!, That'll teach you to murder my Sally!!, damn cutthroat rebel scum, BOB!!! They got BOB!!!, _and a dozen others all at once.

      After a long while she realized the enemy were dead, the Sons of Korhal regrouping. She was alone. She sank to her knees and let out a low moan, and grieved for all the men killed upon the battlefield.


	5. Chapter 4: Zerg

CHAPTER 4: ZERG

      And so it went on, the never-ending schedule of battle, rest, battle, rest, planet after planet after planet, as her life sunk into sort of a pattern. She became Arcturus's best weapon, the leader of quite a few missions.

      It was on one such mission she realized there was a hard sort of fungus on the northern border of the battlefield. She quickly dismissed the info as frivolous and unimportant. 

      Just when it seemed they were beating the Confeds, a swarm of doglike things rushed upon them. No, not quite like dogs, scalier, more reptilian, more… Alien. Her squad beat back only a few before making a hasty retreat. 

      Later, in a cloaked Wraith, she and Mensk investigated the fungus area. They saw what seemed to be… organic structures of a sort, some more like monuments, others pulsing dangerously. They shot at one and were creeped out to know it bled. "This is creepy. Hey, Look! That creepy fungus is creeping up on the battlefield!!" Cried Sarah in alarm.

      _Yes, the creep is growing. It will grow to your pitiful hatchery and we shall devour everything!!_

"What, Arcturus?"

      "I didn't say anything."

      That was when Sarah realized she had read the alien's mind (minds?) and they had responded as if they had heard her speak.

      Suddenly she was hit with a flash of knowing, understanding. The hatchery was where they were produced. They lived on the creep. They were here to kill and eat Humans.

      And they wanted her.

      She decided not to tell anyone about this. She was already beginning to forget as the vision faded. Soon all she remembered was the gut feeling she didn't like these things, they wanted to kill people. Just then some flying jellyfish things hovered over to them and they left.

      For the remainder of their time on Chau Sara she kept an eye out for the purple fungus she now called Creep. They left a few weeks later, however, without another site of the strange creatures they had taken to calling "Zerg". 

      Some might say it was a coincidence. Others luck. Still others Fate. They left the day before Chau Sara was incinerated. 

      They came back, of course. But there was nothing left but a ship, stealing away in the darkness of space. "Protoss" Sarah whispered in awe and reverence. Mensk knew better than to ask how she knew.

      He sent her down to the sister planet, Mar Sara, to beat back the zerg and recruit scared people to the Sons of Korhal. It came as no surprise to find that there were, indeed, Zerg on Mar Sara, happily dismembering people. The citizens were being evacuated to the countryside.

      She did her work quickly and well. It was a job to her. She asked questions to which she already knew the answers, so that other people would think long and hard about them. She was anywhere and everywhere, sometimes successful, less often not. She remembered few of them, only special ones she had to work at to get, and then only when reminded.

      But one case intrigued her more than the others. She found herself wondering about him after they parted. As a condition of joining, one man requested she spring his buddy from jail. There she met the man she'd never forget. Of course, it was Marshall Raynor. Most men she sprung joined I gratitude. He just thanked her and took his leave.

      Sarah had almost finished her weekly report to Mensk.

      "So how is your new planet faring this week?"

      "It's so sad, and desolate. The Zerg here have been gnawing on people in Military bases."

      "Well, I should be going to my meeting, my pet. Play nice with the Zerg now, you hear?"

      "Wait! One other thing, Arcturus." She could tell by the way he suddenly stiffened they had company.

      "Yes, Lieutenant?"

      "Permission to aid and study Marshall Raynor's men, commander?"

      "yes, yes, go on."

      "Thank you Sir!"

      "Fare Well, Lieutenant Kerrigan."

      "Fare Well, Commander Mensk."


	6. Chapter 5: Jim

CHAPTER 5: JIM

      She watched as he led his campaign against the Confederates and the Zerg alike. She his and saw the first time he discovered an infested Command Center. He and his men torched it. He got arrested.

      "Are you out of your mind? If we hadn't burned that damn factory this entire colony could have been overrun! Maybe if you hadn't taken your sweet time getting here…"

      So she sprung him again. And he was finally curious about her. So she told him of the Sons of Korhal. And he was intrigued. But she didn't press the issue. Consequently, when one of the militia bases he was at was trapped and being overrun, he called to them. And they saved him and his men. And he joined them. It had only taken a month.

      She was a bit suspicious of him at first. He was an officer! But he could take orders and wasn't too cocky! But he laughed at her suspicions, and called her "Darlin'" in his odd accent. So she promptly forgot him and went on with her work.

      Only, she couldn't quite forget him. She rejoiced a little inwardly when the two of them were sent to rescue Backwater Station on Antiga Prime. There was a few Confederate  bunkers there, parked right up next to and shooting at the Station.

      Raynor's men met her halfway. Cloaked, she had flown over and noted the way to the station in a Wraith. They came over and she began her repot, subconsciously reading Raynor's mind. "Captain Raynor, I've already scouted out the area and… You pig!"

"WHAT? I haven't even said anything to you yet!!!"

"Yah, but you were thinkin' it."

"Oh yeah, you're a telepath. Look, lets just get this over with already."

No "Darlin'" this time. Sarah felt strangely disappointed. But she soon forgot that as they approached the station. "They got it bugged to the gills! I so much as LOOK at it wrong and we'll ALL get fried! Raynor, take your bike up back out of range and use your range shot before the Missile Turrets pint me out to any passing Marines."

      But there were no Marines in the area. They proceeded with caution, but there were no more traps. The few bunkers were easily overtaken by their squadron. Seeing Kerrigan cloak and head out, Raynor slipped in to the command center in time to watch her kill. Men's heads suddenly exploded, panicking their buddies, who ran straight into an invisible knife. She was weary. Jim could see that. She kept losing her cloak, then began letting it drop when she believed no-one was watching. He caught the look on her face when she killed. Weary, yes, but there was something else. _Satisfaction at a job well done, that's all,_ he thought. But deep down, he knew it was something else. Joy, Rapture at the thought of murder.

      She was done. She slowly decloaked, her back to Jim, and looked about, all trace of the graceful but deadly butterfly inside gone. She sank to her knees and looked as if she would cry, but no. Crying was too soft an emotion for a Ghost. Instead she vomited violently.

      Jim came over to try and console her. He started to put his hand gently on her shoulder, stopped, then went to stroke her cheek. He had a knife at his throat before be got halfway.

      "Don't. Touch. Me. Ever." With that she got up and strode calmly away.

      The mission was a success. Backwater Station was theirs. And Jim was in love.

                              ----------

Sarah began to spend some of her off hours with Jim instead of Arcturus. Not many, certainly not enough, but some. They talked. It was wary talk, full of unfinished sentences and off-limits subjects: her past, some of his past, their future, "their" anything, Mensk, battle, her reaction to battle, dead people, parents, children, siblings, childhood, friendship, love… the list went on and one. She wasn't used to such talk. With Mensk she played chess. He loved chess. She owed him her soul. It wasn't the same as loving each other, but… playing chess seemed a small price for her freedom, her essence, her… soul.

      But Jim she owed nothing. Or not nothing, he HAD saved her life a few times, but… she simply did not value life highly. She never had. She was incapable of understanding the idea that life was sacred.

She was Mensk's best worker, his most trusted agent. He sent her on many a crucial mission. So she was slightly hurt when he sent Jim to raid the Jacobs Installation. But he had a surprise for her: she got to sit with him in the monitoring room. She instantly decided it was better so. She trusted his judgment. 

      She was shocked to learn the Confederates had Zerg in their holding pens. She was even more shocked to learn that Mensk knew of this. He quickly explained that the Confederates may have even brought the Zerg to Antiga Prime, Mar Sara, and Chau Sara. After he sent Jim on his way again, he turned to her and apologized profusely for not remembering to tell her. He promised she would get the chance to avenge her planet.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean the Protoss blew up Chau Sara because the Zerg were there. I mean that the Zerg were there because the Confeds PUT them there! I mean the destruction of your homeworld was Confederate ordered!! I mean that an entire planet of people perished from the results of a Confederate WEAPON'S TEST!!!!"

She was stunned. The planet of her birth had no special meaning for her, but she knew instinctively that this was wrong.

"Listen, Sarah, I'm sorry. I think…"

"Leave. Me. Alone."

      With that she strode out, shocked. She needed comfort. Mensk was not a man to her. She would never admit it, but he was like a god to her. She could hardly remember why. It was buried beneath suppressed memories.

      So she went to Jim. They sobbed together. He felt her pain. He made her feel like a woman, not a soldier.

      He could sense her pain. But he could also sense the void in her emotions, the abyss large and looming and eager to consume both her and him. He knew he could do nothing to that pain. It made him feel uneasy.

So he began to talk, as if his words could fill her and restore her and heal her. He spoke of a brother, now dead, on Chau Sara. He spoke of a girlfriend killed by Zerg. Of comrades found half-eaten on the creep.

      She was at a loss for words. This was a new side of Jim she'd never seen before. He was grieving too, but it was a healing kind of sadness, one that filled him but did not touch his core. _It's too late for me, but perhaps Jim… _So she probed his thoughts. It was a reflex, but she could turn it off, shut herself in and wallow in sadness. But she no longer wanted to be alone.

      So she opened up, to read and be read, if anyone around was so able.

      _A young boy, sadness, long ago, gone away to school, A Letter! From Bobby's school! "We regret to inform you… accident… your son/brother/husband is no longer with us…" the truth… Ghost training…_

Sarah gasped, and knew no more.

She came to a minute of so later. Jim was the first thing she saw when she awoke. She could sense his genuine concern for her.

"Are you alright, Darlin'? Speak to me! SOMEONE GET A MEDIC!!!"

But of course there was no-one abut to hear.

"I… I'm fine, Jimmy."

He quickly turned back to her. "Oh thank god you're alive. Shh, now, don't try to talk. It's ok. Are you hurt? You're safe now."

He cradled her head in his arms, and she had the strange sensation of seeing herself suddenly fall to the floor. She could feel the panic in Jim even in this echo of his thoughts.

"I… I'm sorry."

"My god, she must be delirious. Listen, Darlin', you didn't do anything to be sorry about. We were just talking and you got a little overheated, nothing to worry about…"

He felt her forehead, then lightly caressed her skin. It felt so good she never wanted to moment to end. But it had to.

"No, no. I… I'm sorry about your… brother."

He froze, and she could practically see his mind working.

"So you know."

She half expected him to drop her and run off to seek solitude. She would have. But no, he held her to him in a sweet embrace.

"yes."

When they kissed, it was the pure bliss of two hearts intertwining. She felt joy, real joy, not drug-induced, for perhaps the first time in her life. And it scared her. So she stopped it.

"We can't, I can't… We're soldiers. Jim, I'm a soldier, not a blushing schoolgirl."

He looked like he'd been slapped.

"I… I'm sorry, Jim, but this is war."

"No, I'm sorry. I pushed you to it. It's my fault. I took advantage of your helplessness…"

"I've never been helpless a day in my life. I fainted from shock. I… I read your mind."

He grimaced.

      "I should have known my brave Sarah would be alright."

      That scared her even more, and then the fear scared her. She could face bullets and the Zerg, but she could not handle love.

      "I'd better go… rest."

      "yes, you rest, Darlin' you've had a long day."

      He helped her up, and she left, and Jim's heart was breaking, but he was a soldier, so he showed nothing. And Sarah's heart was breaking, but she was a ghost, so she showed nothing.


	7. Chapter 6: Right and Wrong

CHAPTER 6: RIGHT AND WRONG

      Mensk had called a meeting.

      "There is a Confederate fleet approaching our position. But that shouldn't be news to you all by now. I think it's time to disclose what it was Raynor here stole. Lieutenant Kerrigan, if you will."

      "The confederates have been running experiments on the Zerg, as you know. What you stole was a small but crucial piece of the puzzle: the plans for a Psionic Waveform Emitter, or Psi Emitter for short. See, the Zerg are attracted to the waves emitted by ghost brains."

      "So the Zerg are here for you, Darlin'? This just keeps gettin better n' better!"

      "Shut up!"

      Such banter served to disguise their true feelings for one another.

      "Anyway, our brains emit only a short distance away. However, the Psi emitter can store and amplify these signals, calling Zerg to them. They can only be charged and activated by a ghost, and it only works for a few hours  before the signal dies down and it has to be re-activated."

      "We have built a limited number of these Psi Emitters, as Lieutenant Kerrigan calls them. As such, I have decided to plant one in the Confederate base. Raynor and Duke will provide cover."

      Months ago, General Edmond Duke of the Confederate's ship, the Norad II, crashed, and he put out a distress call. The Sons of Korhal answered it. Raynor had protested saving his worst enemy who had jailed him so many times, but Mensk had shut him up with "I'm not askin ya to like it. I'm askin you to do it." Raynor and Kerrigan both felt one more protest would end in murder, and NOT Mensk's. Mensk was right, of course. Duke was grateful and joined them with little coaxing.

      "But Mensk!"

      "General Mensk"

      "_GENERAL _Mensk" her voice just dripped with sarcasm. " We can't do that!!"

      " We can. Our technology has sufficiently advanced as to…"

      "But it's WRONG!"

      "Lieutenant Kerrigan, wrong and right have no place in war." Mensk's voice was cold.

      "You mean, all's fair in love and war?" Raynor broke in.

      "Who said anything about love?"

      "It's just a saying" Mumbled Raynor, blushing.

      "But if we use the Zerg against them, what makes us any better than them?" Cried Sarah

      "My dear, it is over your head to worry about such matters. I am a commander. I will decide what is right and wrong. You are a soldier. You will obey orders. You will NOT contemplate them."

      "Yes sir." What had happened to the kind, generous man who had saved her? Had he no morals? No conscience? She would talk to him after the mission.

      Jim caught her before she left, as she was suiting up. "You don't have to do this, Sarah."

      "Yes, I do." Her voice scared him. It was cold and impersonal, not the warm, friendly tone she usually reserved for him. It was as if she did not recognize him. He realized she has already steeled herself to do it. He left.

      He did not see her on the battlefield. Easy, since she was cloaked. He and Duke sent some Siege Tanks to secure a second area right next to the enemy base, and leapfrogged them up until a way was relatively clear into the heart of the Confederate base. She radioed when the emitter was in place, and snuck out to a dropship, and they left.

      On the way back to the fleet of battlecruisers that housed the Sons of Korhal now, she found him. 

      "I hope we never have to do anything like this again."

      She was pale and looked like she would be sick. Raynor knew she had killed nobody on this particular mission, and realized just how strongly she felt about this. He said nothing but comforted her, let her lean on him until the nausea subsided.

      When the Dropship pulled in, she immediately went to see Mensk, fuming.

      "That was WRONG!!! That was EVIL!! I thought we were the GOOD GUYS!!"

      "I was unaware that Ghosts even felt such emotion." 

      His cold uncaring stunned her. So she read his mind. No, that's too small a phrase. She knew his top level of conscious thought already. But now she did what she had not done since leaving the Academy: she read deep into him, to the thoughts and feelings he could not control, which do not deceive, do not lie. In him she saw a politician hungry for power. She knew then he did not save her for her sake, but because Ghosts are powerful. He craved power. And vengeance. He would send people he cared about to die if it would increase his power. And he did not care about her.

      Her face drained of all color. She could not speak. Her world was collapsing around her. It was all she could do not to faint.

      "So know you know. I believe you had some grand illusion I was in love with you!! Really, Lieutenant. I'm surprised you did not read me at the start. Don't go getting any ideas of rebellion. My public loves me. The confederacy is falling apart. I will win. All thanks to you, my dear. You are dismissed."

      She was dismissed. Like a servant, or a common soldier. She meant to do a mock salute. All she could do was make her feet go out the door and to the bathroom, where she vomited for 20 minutes. When she returned to her room she found a conference in place over the vid screen. 

      "I believe the Protoss will attempt to interfere with our operations. Lieutenant Kerrigan will go defeat them. Do not harm the Zerg."

      "This is BULLSHIT!! Sarah, are you listening to this?!?!"

      "I'm here. I'll so it."

      She turned off the vid screen and went to the dropship bay. She had already summoned a small squadron. They were planetside before Raynor knew they were gone. He called her personal comlink.

      "You don't have to do this, Sarah. Look, I know about your past. I know how Mensk saved you. But hell, Sarah, I saved your butt plenty of times!"

      "Drop the knight in shining armor routine, Jim. It suits you sometimes, just… not now." She sounded tired, run down. He worried for her. 

      "Sarah, come back, don't do this, I love you, SARAH!!!"

      But she had shut down her comlink and was gone.

                              ---------------

      She defeated the Protoss with little difficulty. But suddenly, a swarm of hundreds of Zerglings, Hydralisks, and the like came swarming down on them! As she desperately battled for her life, she switched on her comlink and called " I need backup! There's too many of them! Raynor, Mensk, HELP!!"

      The next call Jim received was from Mensk.

      "All personnel get to secured locations for hyperspeed. Leaving in 3 minutes. "

      "WHAT!! You can't just leave her there!!!"

      "I can and I will. The risk is too great."

      Sarah came back on, pale and looking near death.

      "Arcturus? Jim? What about that backup?"

      He tried to respond but she no longer answered her comlink. Quickly, Jim gathered up a small squadron loyal to him and Sarah and told them what had happened. About half volunteered to come, including a few dropship pilots. They stole out of the ship as it went to hyperspeed.


	8. Chapter 7: Broken dreams

CHAPTER 7: BROKEN DREAMS

      But when they arrived, there was no sign of the Zerg, Protoss, or Sarah. There were dead Marine bodies, but no ghosts. After 2 hours of searching, Jim found her comlink. He could only imagine what had happened to the rest of her. With a heavy heart, be ordered his team to prepare for departure. The Confederates had brought and Ion cannon online while they searched, so they took it out first.

      After the ion cannon was destroyed, Jim had no place to go. He took the dropships and a newly-built battlecruiser and went to the nearest civilized planet. Then, he took his battlecruiser and wandered the vast expanse of space alone.       

      He dreamed. She was calling him, calling him, crying for help, for him, to come save her, she was alive, she needed him, and she loved him as well. And in the dream she did not know where she was, but she needed him, she wasn't far, follow the Zerg, JIM! With that he woke up.

      He had this dream every night. He found some soldiers and went after the Zerg. People said, Tsk tsk, poor man, he's crazy, he thinks he can take on the Zerg alone. The Protoss respected that he wanted to do right, and let him do as he wished. And the 'Xel Naga, who saw everything, understood, and said poor man, he lost everything, he really loved her. But even the 'Xel Naga can't see dreams unless they sent them, and they had sent him no dreams, and did not fully understand, and thought he acted out of blind passion alone.      

      Many weeks he searched, becoming a legend as a great Zerg killer, saving mankind, but he scorned them and all who followed Mensk, for Mensk had the power he so craved, and only one person knew what he was really like.

      Only one person, but 2 beings. She could feel herself changing. She was beginning to forget… She forgot even her name, she forgot her species, she forgot… everything. But she could remember anything if she tried, although the emotions associated with the memories were the first thing to go. She was her battle-self personified. Cold, calculating, ruthless. But she was trapped in her head. And some part of her could not forget the man she loved, could not let go of at least the one emotion. It called to him, begging him come, save her. Then it called to him to kill her, for she could sense the changes in her body, and knew she would kill more people and needed to be stopped. She knew she would become the enemy of all she had loved, and she prayed for death. She was not afraid to die. She knew she would, eventually. Death was natural. She would rather die than be what she was becoming. But she could not make a move to take her own life. She did not even have a word for what she was becoming. Language had been stripped from her.

      She had no sense of time. After a long while, the Overmind came to her. _My child, arise, awaken. _it said. _NO! not yet! _she responded. _I will come back when you are stronger. _

      It did, several times, each time promising to come bask "When she was stronger". She fought the changes with all her waning strength. She had always been strong-willed

                              ----------

      Still Jim searched. He killed many, many Zerg. He kept having dreams, but they were less frequent. He knew she was losing hope. She seemed unable to hear him. She told him of her confinement, that they were doing strange things to her body, he assumed that meant she was caught as a prisoner of war and being tortured. Seeing her lent him the strength to continue searching. She was so pale, pale as death itself. He worried she was dead. Her eyes were sunken in, and she was so thin. He cried seeing her in his lucid dream. He swore not only rescue but revenge.

                              ----------

      She WAS losing hope, slowly but surely. There was another mind in her head, and it grew. She was losing this battle. She grew weaker, and her image to Jim grew weaker. But physically she was stronger than ever. 

      Soon she found she could not even feel her body anymore. The Sarah part of her was dying slowly. This alien part grew, and began to feel familiar to her. She tried her best to hold on until Jim could arrive, but in her heart she knew it was too late. She was dying.

      Gradually, she began to understand, to know what this other mind was. It was herself. She didn't know who she was, but she was cold and ruthless. She wanted vengeance on all humankind for the wrongs done her. But there was still a little nagging voice in the back of her head that spoke of beauty and love and Jim. When the Overmind returned, she was ready to say yes to it's offer. But the small part of her held back, said no. _Ah, my child, you are not whole yet. Rest a while. I shall return for you.  
  
_

                              ------------

      _She was sitting on a hill. He saw what she stared at in reality and reflected in her eyes at the same time. She never blinked. She seemed not to know him. He turned around. They sat beneath a tree, resting in the shade. All around was an endless, grassy plain. She was watching some children kick a ball around in a game from old Earth. Only her eyes moved. Suddenly he had the feeling she was not Sarah anymore. He turned to see what she was as she spread her wings and glided down to grab the ball. It had turned into his head. She looked at him, and their eyes met, and he recognized the look in them, and it scared him, and it reminded him of the first time he saw he kill a man. Upon awakening, he could not remember what she looked like at the end of the dream._

      ------------  
      Jim was running a base. There was a Zerg encampment nearby, a large one. They kept shooting down dropships full of men. Somehow, they knew when he was sending them out and where they were headed. He wondered why they were letting a few get away time after time.

                              -------------

      The Overmind returned. She had learned to silence that part of her that protested until it was no more than a nagging feeling in the back of her mind, easily ignored. _Awaken my daughter, arise my Queen of Blades._

_      Yes._

_      You are ready, my child. Arise._

--------------

      Hw saw her. She was an alien creature, with wings and claws and blades on her arms. She was a Zerg. He almost didn't recognize her.

      "Sarah! Is that you? What have they done to you?"

      "Spare me the rescue attempt and go home, Jim. I'm happier now than I ever was with you pitiful humans."

      "But the dreams… I dreamed you were calling to me… "

      "While still in the Chrysalis, I may have sub-consciously reached out to you. But I like the way I am. I have power now, REAL power. Go home, Jim, before I rip you to shreds!!!"

      _Such rage, such violence. They've gotten to your mind as well. Oh Sarah, what have they done to you?_

He watched as she cut marines in half with one swipe. She was strong, cutting through heavily armored Firebats in 2 swipes. He realized he had little protection. She and her Zerg army took out his command center, and he left. He knew the woman he loved was dead. His quest was ended. Sarah Kerrigan was no more. In her place was the Queen of Blades.


End file.
